Doctor updates chamber on hospital health

They traveled around the world to land in Grand Coulee, and he and his wife are at Coulee Medical Center "for the long run," Dr. Sam Hsieh told a chamber of commerce gathering last week.

Hsieh (pronounced Shay), a general surgeon and the chief of staff at the hospital, was born in Hong Kong; raised mostly in Canada; graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland; and completed his surgical residency in Texas.

He and his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Hsu (pronounced Sue), an endocrinologist, met in Ireland. They knew they wanted to practice in a rural area and get closer to home and family in Vancouver. Grand Coulee was a good fit.

Hsieh said the recent loss of another chief executive officer at the hospital has not disrupted the medical staff, quite the contrary.

"We know what the community needs," he said, and the hospital needs to find a CEO "who will work for us" to further that vision. "We do want to bring our hospital to the next level. ... We need to find a CEO that is one step ahead of us."

Hsieh said the hospital is making continual progress, continually working to be updated and provide the best service it can, and he ticked off a list of recent initiatives: CMC should institute an intensive care unit by the end of the year, the hospital has just added clinic services two Saturdays each month, a retail pharmacy service is coming in October, and CMC is coordinating with the school to provide medical access there for students.

Hsieh also noted that last month the hospital quadrupled the number of surgeries performed over the same month a year ago.